Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad: Live Player Ratings for Los Blancos

Below are player ratings for each Madrid player as well as a brief explanation of the grades.

Real Madrid Player Ratings

Player

Rating

Diego Lopez

C

Raphael Varane

B-

Pepe

B-

Alvaro Arbeloa

B

Dani Carvajal

C

Sami Khedira

B-

Xabi Alonso

B

Cristiano Ronaldo

A+

Gareth Bale

B+

Luka Modric

B+

Karim Benzema

A

Asier Illarramendi

C

Isco

C

Alvaro Morata

C

Lineup via @realmadrid Twitter

The first half was dominated by the attacking play of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, who for the third consecutive match combined brilliantly up front in Carlo Ancelotti’s 4-3-3 system.

The two linked up on the first two goals of the game while Ronaldo scored on a penalty for the third Los Blancos goal in the 26th minute.

Ronaldo completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute with a free kick that left La Real keeper Claudio Bravo awestruck.

Gareth Bale saw his fair share of chances, but he could not find the back of the net, though he could have scored back in the 31st minute if he had faith in his right foot.

Bale may not have scored on Saturday, but he did continue to show signs of how great he can be playing alongside the world-class Ronaldo and the in-form Benzema.

Sami Khedira had the most visible contribution of the three Real Madrid midfielders with his 36th minute goal that put Los Blancos ahead by four.

Before exiting the pitch for Isco in the 77th minute, the German international had an 88 percent pass accuracy and had 67 touches.

Against his former side, Xabi Alonso threatened the La Real defense on a few free kicks while having a solid game on the defensive side of the ball in his 70 minutes on the pitch.

Lined up as the focal point of the midfield, Alonso had a 91 percent passing accuracy while touching the ball just 61 times.

Luka Modric tried to find the magic that he and Bale once had at Tottenham on a few occasions, but none of the those chances turned into a goal for the home side.

The back four, who have been criticized for their play as of late, held together for most of the match.

Real Sociedad’s Antoine Griezmann did cause some trouble to left-back Dani Carvajal in the first half and to the center-back pairing of Pepe and Raphael Varane in the second half.

Besides the pressure from the lone La Real goalscorer, the Madrid back four did not have to deal with much.

Moving forward in attack, it was right-back Alvaro Arbeloa who contributed most as he attempted to complete overlapping runs into the penalty area on numerous occasions.

Overall, the performance delivered by the four players at the back was a solid one and Ancelotti should leave the game pleased with what he saw.

In goal, Diego Lopez had a bad spell of two minutes surrounding the La Real goal.

Lopez handed the visitors a valid penalty shout that was not called when he attempted a tackle on Griezmann.

The Real Madrid keeper was then caught out less than a minute later when Griezmann chipped the ball over his head and into the back of the net.

Lopez did come up big late in the game with a sprawling save of a Carlos Vela shot in the 87th minute.

Of the three second half substitutes, Alvaro Morata had the only key contribution to the game as his shot in the 88th minute should have found the back of the net, but the youngster scuffed his shot and it did not threaten Bravo one bit.